Bruins: Iginla vetoed done deal; Chiarelli not done trading

At noon Wednesday, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli learned that he had won the Jerome Iginla sweepstakes. At 11:45 p.m., Calgary Flames GM Jay Feaster told him that the long-time Flames captain preferred playing with Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh.

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By MICK COLAGEO

southcoasttoday.com

By MICK COLAGEO

Posted Mar. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By MICK COLAGEO

Posted Mar. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

At noon Wednesday, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli learned that he had won the Jerome Iginla sweepstakes. At 11:45 p.m., Calgary Flames GM Jay Feaster told him that the long-time Flames captain preferred playing with Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh.

"So we were out," said Chiarelli at a Thursday presser at TD Garden. "Listen, these things happen all the time, more than you know, as far as deals going sour."

There was a silent period between those two calls in which Chiarelli sensed something was off. "God bless 'em because I like Ray Shero — Pitt has been on this amazing run. We're a pretty good team and, as the wind blows, that's the way it goes. €¦ We relied on the fact that we had a deal." Chiarelli clarified that he had no direct contact with Iginla at any point. "There's never an opportunity to do that in any form," he said.

So what now? Chiarelli told a press gathering that he discussed the matter with defenseman Matt Bartkowski and forward Alexander Khokhlachev, who were meant to be in the trade. "Those two players are good players, I talked to them today about the ways of the hockey business," said Chiarelli. "There it is in a nutshell. The reality is these things happen. It happened to us. We'll continue to try to improve our team. There are a lot of deals out there and we're in them."

Two things to watch for as the Bruins proceed toward the April 3 deadline: 1. Khokhlachev left the KHL to join the Providence Bruins in good faith; has this false start broken a trust, and will it weaken Chiarelli's attempts to include him in a another trade? 2. Chiarelli said his Plan B expands targets to include non-rentals, meaning there could be roster ramifications with a significant acquisition.